Suspect admits slaying

A 21-year-old man accused of fatally shooting another man in a gang slaying pleaded guilty Monday, the day his trial was to begin.

Edward Walker Jr. pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the slaying of Jamal Hill, 19, who was shot to death at a North Las Vegas Halloween party in 2007.

Walker, a reputed member of the Wood hybrid gang, will be sentenced on Jan. 15.

The case has a connection to the high-profile slaying last February of 15-year-old Christopher Privett, the Palo Verde High School freshman killed in a drive-by shooting outside the school. Authorities say that Privett was not tied to gangs.

Hill was shot and killed at a party on Halloween night in 2007 on Gowan Road near Martin Luther King Boulevard. Witnesses told North Las Vegas police that a man known as "Lil' Earl" shot and killed Hill, who was affiliated with a rival hybrid gang called Squad Up. Lil' Earl was later identified as Walker.

Gabriel Grasso, Walker's attorney, said that shooting was in retaliation for a shooting also involving gang members.

North Las Vegas police interviewed a teen identified as Gerald Davidson, who in November 2007 identified Walker as the shooter in a photo line-up.

Authorities said Monday that Gerald Davidson is actually Gerald Q. Davison, a reputed member of Squad Up who is behind bars on charges that he shot and killed Privett.

Davison is set to go to trial in Privett's slaying next year.